Parental Rights

Are you in dependency or termination of parental rights proceedings?

Are you a concerned family member or interested party in dependency or termination proceedings?

Many otherwise normal families find themselves torn apart by shelter hearings followed by months and years of dependency proceedings and criminal investigations.

Although parents are entitled to an attorney as a matter of law if they are the subject of these proceedings, interested family members such as grandparents and extended family are not.

Even parents who have a court-appointed attorney, are often frustrated when they realize the attorney has little to no time for them. Many parents come into our office having never received a message or communication from their court-appointed attorney at all, and have no idea what is happening in their case.

Our St. Petersburg Dependency and Termination of Parental Rights Attorneys are skilled and experienced in these actions, and can help you fight for your rights and the rights of the children to ensure that your family remains intact.

We can help you negotiate a case plan, deny the allegations, and even arrange an adoption in cases where a parent is unable to take care of the children but there is an interested family member or party available.

Many times, DCF is extremely secretive and refuses to communicate openly or frankly with anyone involved. Additionally, they often assert baseless accusations and crawl through parents’ pasts to find vague, ambiguous and unfounded mud to throw at that individual. While the need for reform is an urgent issue, don’t allow yourself to become another statistic of DCF incompetence.

It is very important you avoid talking to DCF without the guidance of your attorney. It is guaranteed that anything you say will be twisted and turned against you, and you will find yourself in front of a judge with unreal and ridiculous allegations being thrown at you.

This is not to discount the seriousness of true child abuse and neglect, and DCF’s goal is laudable, but in actuality, far too many families are the subject of political witchhunts to appease the powers that be, and these hunts have nothing to do with the welfare of the children.

In order to accomplish this goal, DCF will utilize any and every bag of dirty ticks in their arsenal, and they will make it as difficult as possible for you to have representation and to assert yourself in the action.They are a political machine with little to no interest in the child’s best interests.

Once an attorney is involved in the action, the tune will change. The allegations that DCF propounds can be challenged, and an attorney can force DCF to take a more reasoned approach.

Don’t allow DCF to twist the facts, inflict a veil of secrecy, and make your life a nightmare. Help is available at our St. Petersburg Office where our experienced DCF attorneys can outline your options and explore the facts of your case. We have reached extremely favorable results in the past, and while every case is unique, as one of a handful of firms that practice in Dependency and Termination of Parental Rights suits, we are here for you.

If you are an interested party such a biological parent, step-parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent who is not a party to the proceedings but concerned about the children, we are also ready to assist you and can help bring you to the attention to the court so you can help ensure the children are placed in your care either temporarily or through an adoption.

In addition, dependency and termination actions are often appropriate bases for requesting paternity actions or modification actions, and at points like this, it may be important to make sure the proper adoption, paternity, or modification actions are filed in family court.

Whatever your circumstances, give us a call today and see what we can do for you.